Prefix and Numbering Configuration for Billing Documents
You can create and manage billing document sequence sets, allowing multiple distinct numbering sequences for billing documents, payments, and refunds. Billing documents include invoices, credit memos, and debit memos.
A billing document sequence set comprises a set of custom prefixes and starting document numbers that are used for billing documents to generate, and payments and refunds to create.
The Credit and Debit Memos feature is only available if you enable the Invoice Settlement feature.
Zuora billing document numbers, payment numbers, and refund numbers comprise a custom prefix followed by a sequential number. For example, a company named Grand Hotels might use invoice numbers such as GHINV00000142. We recommend that you use meaningful prefix names so that they are easy to understand and manage.
Configuration
In the Define Prefixes, Numbers and Sequence Sets area on the Define Numbering and SKU Formats page, you can configure a sequence set consisting of a prefix and starting document number for the next billing documents, payments, and refunds to generate by Zuora. When you change the prefix or starting document number, Zuora does not modify the document numbers of previously generated billing documents, payments, and refunds.
By default, Zuora uses the sequence set called “DEFAULT” when generating or creating billing documents, payments, and refunds for all customer accounts. The default sequence set cannot be deleted.
The following table lists the default billing document sequence set.
| Sequence Set | Document | Default Prefix | Default Starting Document Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEFAULT | Invoice | INV | 1 |
| Credit Memo | CM | 1 | |
| Debit Memo | DM | 1 | |
| Payment | P- | 1 | |
| Refund | R- | 1 |
When creating a sequence set, the prefix and starting number are required for billing documents, but optional for payments and refunds. If a sequence set has no prefix defined for payments or refunds, the corresponding prefix in the DEFAULT sequence set is used. If no prefix is defined for payments or refunds in the default sequence set, the default payment prefix P- and the default refund prefix R- are used.
You can manage billing document sequence sets with the following operations from the Zuora UI and REST API:
- Create Billing Document Sequence Sets
- Edit Billing Document Sequence Sets
- View Information of Billing Document Sequence Sets
- Delete Billing Document Sequence Sets
You can also assign billing document sequence sets to customer accounts. After the assignment is completed between a sequence set and an account, the billing documents generated, payments, and refunds created for this account adopt the configured prefix and starting document number. To achieve this, you can select an option from the Sequence Set list when creating or editing customer accounts.
If a customer account has no assigned billing document sequence set, billing documents, payments, and refunds generated for this account adopt the prefix and starting document number from the default sequence set. If no prefix is defined for payments or refunds in the default sequence set, the payments and refunds created for this account adopt the default payment prefix P- and the default refund prefix R-.
Limitations
- The name of a billing document sequence set can contain a maximum of 15 characters.
- The name of a billing document sequence set must start with an alphabetic letter or a digit.
- The name of a billing document sequence set can only contain alphabetic letters, digits, and dashes.
- The starting document number, payment starting number, or refund starting number must be greater than or equal to the displayed Min start number for the prefix. This limitation ensures that document numbers of previously generated documents, payments, and refunds are not reused in the future.
- The prefix must contain at least 1 character and at most 16 characters.
- The prefix can only contain alphabetic letters, underscores, and dashes.
- The first character of the prefix cannot be an underscore or a dash, and the last character of the prefix cannot be a digit.
- If a prefix has been used with one type of the billing document, payments, or refunds, you are not allowed to use it for other types of billing documents, payments, or refunds. For example, you use MO as the prefix for credit memos. Then you rename the prefix to CM for credit memos. You are not allowed to use MO as the prefix for debit memos, invoices, payments, or refunds. You can only use MO as the prefix for credit memos.
- You are not allowed to use the following prefixes that are reserved for internal uses:
- PREVIEW-
- TMP-INV-
- TMP-CM-
- TMP-DM-